August 15.
Today marks the 81st year since the end of World War II.
I offer my heartfelt prayers for the peaceful repose of every precious life lost in World War II.
This is far too important to not repeat these peaceful sentiments.
Over the past several years, the global situation has become more dire than at any time since the end of World War II, and even since the end of the Cold War.
It is precisely because we live in such uncertain and turbulent times that we must choose mutual understanding and dialogue over hatred and violence.
All moral and ethical people want nothing more than peace.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka once left us with these words:
“As long as the generation that experienced war remains at the heart of politics, we will be all right. But when a generation that has never known war becomes the core of Japan, that is when we should truly be afraid.”
Are we not now living in precisely the kind of era he warned us about?
Leaders and politicians who advocate for war will never go to the front lines themselves.
It is the ordinary and young people who lose their lives on the battlefield, while innocent civilians become the victims of indiscriminate attacks.
Do the leaders of the world truly understand the cruelty and horror of war—how, in a single instant, people can be robbed of their homes and livelihoods, their possessions, their futures, and their families?
Our leaders, our politicians, just simply remain in places of safety whilst innocents suffer.
There is absolutely no justification for the lives of innocent people around the world to be placed at the mercy of the agendas, greed, pride and business interests of a handful of people.
I stand firmly for peace.
As the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, Japan must lead the world towards peace.
Creating a peaceful and free world—that is the resolve we need most today.
Let us act together. We are the overwhelming majority.
2026.08.15
SGZ